Profile: Donald Trump: Alcibiades in 2016? – By Dr. Dhanpaul Narine

Donald Trump: Alcibiades in 2016? – By Dr. Dhanpaul Narine

The Greek General and Statesman Alcibiades 450-404 BC. He was a billionaire and womanizer that wanted to make Greece great again.

‘I will make this country great again. I will restore it to its former glory and will bring back law and order. We have been cheated for too long. There are persons that have done great wrongs and they must come to justice.’ This is not Donald Trump. It is Alcibiades, a ruthless and flamboyant Athenian billionaire, and a complex character in Antiquity.

Alcibiades lived during the period (450-404 B.C.). Why then is he relevant in 2016? How has he managed to plant himself in the American elections? In order to answer these questions we need to know a little about Greek society and Alcibiades’ role in it. According to scholars of Antiquity, Alcibiades was born around 450 B.C in what is now Turkey. Greece at that time was experiencing political upheavals that would eventually lead to the Peloponnesian War.

Alcibiades was from a wealthy family. His father was a commander that was killed in battle. The young Alcibiades was raised at some point by Pericles but preoccupation with the war meant that Pericles had little time for the young man. Alcibiades was tutored by Socrates. The relationship lasted for a while but Alcibiades gave up his studies and chose instead the politics of excess.